Group Info

Ex-Christians on dA is a group for former, deconverted, leaving, or doubting Christians. If you were once a Christian but no longer identify as such then this is a group for you. Whether you were raised in a strict Christian home, were a practicing fundamentalist, or just loosely identified with the Christian faith. Perhaps you were more liberal or from a home that just went to church for Christmas or Easter, and now don't know how Christianity relates for you, you are certainly welcome here! Even if you are simply questioning your beliefs, you are also welcome. If you feel stuck in your religion, are having a crisis of faith, and need support and information then please see what we have to offer, but please reach out to someone.

Ex-Christians on dA is a group for former, deconverted, leaving, or doubting Christians. If you were once a Christian but no longer identify as such then this is a group for you. Whether you were raised in a strict Christian home, were a practicing fundamentalist, or just loosely identified with the Christian faith. Perhaps you were more liberal or from a home that just went to church for Christmas or Easter, and now don't know how Christianity relates for you, you are certainly welcome here! Even if you are simply questioning your beliefs, you are also welcome. If you feel stuck in your religion, are having a crisis of faith, and need support and information then please see what we have to offer, but please reach out to someone.

Admins

Faithless Founder

Apostate Apostles

Disciples of Doubt

Special thanks

We are a group for former, deconverted, currently leaving, or doubting Christians. We're here to support former Christians who may feel alone, isolated, disconnected, etc, from their previous religious communities and might not have the same equivalent communal support to turn to in a time of transition and potential difficulty, or simply for those who want to meet others who rejected their faith.

As any regular readers here probably know, I'm a sucker for documentaries. I'm frequently watching new ones, I would probably drive everyone crazy if I posted every time I saw one I thought was interesting. But here is a list of a few recent(ish) ones I think some in this group might appreciate.

First off, I meant to post about Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey several months back when it was on but somehow never actually did. It was making news all over the place so you would have to be living under a rock to not have heard about it. But if you still haven't seen it, then seriously, watch it (although I recommend better quality than this, since the visuals are amazing, but just in case). Also the original Cosmos with Carl Sagan is practically required viewing here.

On a related side note there was a short Funny or Die skit where they showed what a creationist version of Cosmos would look like, it was pretty accurate and hilarious.

A series that aired around the same time that I thought deserved more attention is the PBS series Your Inner Fish. It's based on the book of the same title (highly recommended) by paleontologist Neil Shubin. The first part of the three part series looks at his significant discovery of Tiktaalik, a transitional fossil from around 375 million years ago, and how we're all related to it. The other episodes look at other animals we were related to, our shared traits, and common ancestors. Overall a great presentation of evolution and its evidence.

Another fossil documentary I highly recommend is the BBC series Fossil Wonderlands: Nature's Hidden Treasures with the great Richard Fortey. It's a high quality BBC three part series which not only shows some amazing fossil finds but also where they come from and what makes these sites so important to scientific discoveries.

BBC also did a two part documentary earlier this year called Bible Hunters. With a name like that you might imagine it's a Christian cartoon series meant to indoctrinate kids, but it's actually pretty objective and interesting (it is BBC after all). The two part series presents the stories of people who went to Egypt around the late 19th and early 20th centuries to find bible manuscripts. While they often seem to go there hoping to reinforce their Christian beliefs, what they found tended to cause more questions, uncertainty and doubt than "prove" anything. While the information on the manuscripts might not be new to you if you've read much about early Christian writings, the stories of the people who found (or rediscovered) them and how their finds impacted Christian society at their time was a neat perspective.

And I can't mention BBC without mentioning the most recent bigBBC doc which just aired its first part this week: Human Universe with Professor Brian Cox. The first part ("Apeman Spaceman") focused on humanity's humble beginnings, and I don't mean in the Garden. By exploring our primate ancestry, African roots, the evolution of our brains, and development of civilization, Brian Cox takes all the mysticism, while still showing all the wonder, of how humans were able to become such a technological species (through completely natural methods).

The documentary Kidnapped for Christ just recently aired on Showtime. As the title suggests, it documents teens being sent to the Dominican Republic against their will where they are subject to shocking abuse in the name of religious indoctrination. It's a difficult movie to watch but I encourage everyone to see it, as the "troubled teen" industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, and Christian organizations are leading it (often also sending LGBT kids to these camps simply over their sexuality). Interestingly it was made by a Christian who seems to have since deconverted, probably in part from what she saw making this. If you have access to Showtime you can still find air times, or watch it here, DVD version seems to be in the works.

A horrifying documentary that was just released on HBO this week is Hunted: The War Against Gays in Russia. The Russian government has taken criticism for its anti-gay laws recently, but the even more troubling thing is that hatred against gays in Russia is mainstream, and violence against gay people is rampant. This documentary (originally aired in the UK) shows how vigilante groups target and even track down homosexuals. It also touches on how the church there uses its authority to promote extreme homophobic views. Warning, this film is disturbing.

There is also the documentary God Loves Uganda, which also looks at the rising homophobia in that country. Specifically American right-wing Evangelicals (including the abortion guy from Jesus Camp) are taking their dominionist views to Africa in order to influence Uganda in their persecution against homosexuals, both in government and in the general populace. There's also the film Call Me Kuchu which looks more in depth at the LGBT community in Uganda, and focuses on the murder of human rights activist David Kato. Warning, you may find these films to also be very disturbing

On the same topic, the wonderful Stephen Fry hosts of a two part BBC series called Stephen Fry: Out There. He travels to both Russia and Uganda, where he talks to religious and government leaders who are promoting hatred against homosexuals, as well as meeting some of the victims. He also travels to the US to look at the pray the gay away stuff, and travels to Brazil where a gay person is murdered every 36 hours, and to India to look at how hijras are discriminated against.

Channel 4 (UK) also had a documentary which looked at gay "cures". Called simply Undercover Doctor: Cure Me I'm Gay, it's exactly what it sounds like, about a gay medical doctor who receives "cures" for his homosexuality in both the UK and US. As a doctor (and a person with common sense) he can points out how these supposed treatments don't work, but even he is shocked by how utterly unethical and unscientific (and just plain stupid) some of the "treatments" can be.

The Unbelievers is a documentary which follows professors Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss as they travel speaking about science and reason. Although the film is less about what they say than showing them on the road, it's still an interesting view for those interested in these big names in science and atheism. There's also an indie documentary called The Hitch, about none other than Christopher Hitchens of course, which is a compilation of various footage to honor him.

My Week in Atheism is the collaboration between a Christian and an atheist, David Smalley of Dogma Debate. The Christian, John Christy, is out to connect with atheists and learn what they really think, and David Smalley wants to introduce him to some of the most active members of the community to give an honest and thoughtful portrayal of what "atheism" really means. Both together want to show Christians out there that atheists aren't the immoral Satan-worshiping baby-eaters often portrayed, and to encourage open dialogue and healthy debate.

While perhaps not a true documentary, I ran across a well made and beautifully told personal story on deconversion called Losing God. Similar in style to the popular videos by Evid3nc3, Number0neSon takes us back through the three main foundations of his Christian faith which crumbled when put to the test and critically thought out. Even the way he talks about experiences and explains his religious life even after becoming a nonbeliever sounds eerily familiar to those with a Pentecostal/Charismatic/Evangelical background.

And finally, while I know it's not a documentary, or even a real film, I have to post the latest episode of The Thinking Atheist podcast. Seth interviews Bob Ripley, a preacher of over 30 years and religious columnist who recently publicly declared himself as a nonbeliever. He explains some of his deconversion process and how he had to leave the church when he finally had to face that he could no longer believe what he was preaching.

"He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter." -1 Samuel 6:19 (NASB)

Here below you can find our Resource Lists of links to other helpful sites. We encourage you to read and learn as much as you can, continue to ask questions, and most of all, be skeptical. These resources are for your benefit, this group does not own or have connection with any of these sites, nor can we can take responsibility for any content on them (and not everything here reflects the views of this group).

I had a moment where I thought this group would find a recent experience to be amusing.

I stumbled upon a comment someone left me elsewhere about "Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Being the easily annoyed evil bitch that I am, I wanted to give her some shit about it, but didn't because I was walking out the door for several hours of errand running.

My thought? He might be yours, but he's not mine and I bet the fun group on DA would find that amusing.

Next time, I will leave a comment about it. I just didn't want to have to deal with notifications slamming my phone while I was driving.

Sure, I lost that "battle" but I will win the war and inform her that just because she believes that doesn't mean everyone else does.

Why do these people make those assumptions? Talk about annoying, it definitely is.